Blogs

Steve Keim promised he’d keep churning the bottom of the roster, and he did again Tuesday, signing veteran linebacker Sio Moore. Moore, in his fourth NFL season, had 7.5 sacks as a (mostly) starter for the Raiders in 2013 and 2014. He played for the Colts in a reserve role in 2015 and began this season with Indianapolis before being released. He started four games for the Colts this year with 28 tackles. He also signed with the Chiefs this season, appearing in one game.

He replaces linebacker Joplo Bartu on the roster. Bartu was waived with an injury settlement after suffering a hamstring injury.

The Cardinals also added linebacker Reshard Cliett to the practice squad. Cliett was a 2015 sixth-round pick of the Texans.

29 Responses
to “Cardinals add vet LB Sio Moore”

When I heard on the radio that there good reports from the cards front office regarding coach Arians medical condition.
I was hoping the good reports were he would take off rest of year and let someone coach last six games.
He is the worse play caller in the league to weak to replace special teams coach., and he never elects to receive ball second half which is proven advantage to a team That is why we never score a t.d. first quarter, Can’t made a first after getting kick off ,then punt to the other teams 45 they are now in great position and goes a short distance and scores leaving us always catching up.
He always says give me the ball to start game, stupid coach, I thought so last year also, the Steelers fired for the same reason.
I hope he will lived a long and happy life Retired.

Play calling sucks! You had 8 downs with 2 minutes left,you didn’t even try to throw one deep for a touchdown? Come on man! You got big name receivers and never throw deep, QUIT BEING CONSERVATIVE!!@ GO FOR THE WIN!!!

I know that Arians likes speedy WRs who can “Stretch the field” and get “Chunk Plays”.
How has that worked out this season?
The Cards don’t need Smurffs (see John Brown and JJ Nelson)..
They need some WRs who are bigger and can out-muscle DBs.
They also need someone else to call plays; someone who realizes the value of throwing to TEs.
They also need a new Special Team’s coach. However, that ain’t going to happen as long as Arians is Head Coach.

I hate to say it, but I’m going to….the words “churn the roster” are starting to sound a lot to me like the “next man up” mantra from 2014. Look, it might work for awhile. But ultimately, it reaches a point where it’s not enough.

I like and appreciate Steve Keim. But to jump on JTDG’s band-wagon a bit here, churning the roster with guys that have been released by other teams is not gonna get us where we need to be. Not that our drafts have been bad overall, but there is a need for improvement ( perhaps an understatement at this point ). And perhaps it should start with first round picks that make the kind of contributions that first round picks need to make. And perhaps in their FIRST year, too. As a fan of this team, you can’t possibly NOT be feeling the impact of how little ( SOOOOOO little ) we’ve gotten from Cooper / Humphries / Nkemdiche.

One is gone. One is merely OK. And the other is…..well, as usual, we can’t know anything about what he is until he plays. And that never seems to happen in their rookie year.

Not related to this, this is just a general thought is occurring to me more and more as 2016 rolls on. Has anyone noticed that week, week out, even when he is playing with injuries, even when he is so much older than our other WR’s, that Larry Fitzgerald just continues to be our best player at his position? After all this time, NO ONE has even come close to stepping up to claim the title, to let us know that the torch has been passed. NO ONE has let us know that he will be our go-to guy when Fitz is not here any more.

My God, how sad ( and disturbing ) is that???

Believe me, folks, I wanted SOOOOOO BAD to see Floyd take over as the alpha dog at WR this year. I wanted SOOOOO BAD for him to eclipse Fitz’ stats across the board. I wanted SOOOOO BAD to see him put himself in that Julio Jones / Calvin Johnson category. And with his size / speed / apparent ability, why should that NOT been expected of him? Hasn’t happened. Sorry, let me re-phrase – hasn’t even come close to happening. If anything, it’s gone in the other direction.

And Fitz just keeps carrying the torch – even at 33 y/o, even when playing with injuries – because no one else can catch him to take it from him.

I raise a new concern.
Keim has had several misses in the drafts.
Is he getting bad advice from his scouts or is he disregarding their advice?
How good are the Cards’ scouts?
I recall, during the pasting that the Cards received in the NFC Championship game last season, listening to Gruden praising the Panthers’ draft choices .
He mentioned that several of their defensive starters were rookies or second year players.
The Cards, however, seem to have to sit their OL and DL draft choices until they are “seasoned”. LOL

Scott…
Obviously age is just a number for some like Fitzgerald who seems to get better with age. Oh, he may feel the hits more but he NEVER whines about his injuries and “coming back”–he is mentally tough and has approached his profession in a calculated and almost scientific manner that has insured his continued expertise while maintaining his health; we need a whole team of Larrys! At 33, he is recognized by his peers as one of the toughest receivers in the business still, a guy who can put the hurt on the best corners like Richard Sherman.
There have been receivers in the draft but this group couldn’t recognize talent if they fell over it, preferring smurfs over talents like Amari Cooper, Odell Beckam (another LSU guy), Antonio Brown etc. Guys like Pete Carroll, Bill Bellichik and BA seem to thrive off of the intensity of the game and are just feed off their love of their jobs.
Guess I’m not as big a fan of Keim’s as you are, and am tired of catch phrases like, “churn the roster”, “next man up”, “all or nothing” that sound more like slick marketing catch phrases that you might find on a bumper sticker rather than any kind of real, tangible action . Guys like Ozzy Newsom, John Schneider, John Elway, Bill Bellichick, Dave Gettleman,Scot McCloughan, now those are guys who have some creds for putting winning teams on the field and have earned my respect. I recognized that Keim has helped the Cards turn the corner but how much of that was just luck and due to the need for redecorating?
More often than not, when Keim makes a signing, I have to ask myself “who?” and then Google the name and hope for guys like Fitz (or Freeney) to get them on track with the way we operate. I do give him credit for signing some qaulity assets last season like Freeney, CJ, & Redding but then he kicks them to the curb when we need their wisdom and maturity the most (except CJ)…and it’s not like they were costing anything really?
Obviously we need bodies right now, and I hope to be surprised with this guy but, really, expectations at this point aren’t that high!

Agree with both your points. It is sad no one can step up and make Larry’s departure (whenever it happens) just a little less painful. It has been the Larry David show. If Palmer can’t find Larry, he then gets it to DJ.

As for Campbell,

As the numbers above indicate, CC is having a really nice year. As we all know, he is a FA. As I went through the salaries in the league, the big money guys all got their big money at 25-26 second contract.

When you look for 30 year old 3rd contracts, no one is anywhere near CC’s production.

So, GMs around the league have to decide if Campbell, at 30 is worth a huge 3 year contract, or if he is going to shut down to an Arthur Jones 5yr / 33 mil type deal. Tough call.

I also got to wonder, if we released him this year and then tried to resign him to a 3-4 year deal, what would the market have paid. There is not a lot of examples of players in there 30s at dline getting big contracts. Seems to me, instead of carrying that 15 million dollar hit this year, they could have seen the market by releasing him and have him locked down at his worth.

Help me out Darren, is Campbell going to be the first. over 30 dlineman to get a contract worthy of his play? (see 2nd highest ranked in PFF) Or will teams low ball because of his age?

I agree with most of what you said. And yes, I think Bilichek is a cut above most.

But you have to wonder if he out thought himself. Trading Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins, because they knew they couldn’t pay them, and they got a 2nd rounder and a third rounder. That was smart.

But when you look at the Patriots defense, it sure seems they need an inside presence and an edge rusher. Wouldn’t that be a killer if that keeps them from the superbowl. Personally, I think Bilichek figures it out and with Brady scoring lots of points, they can make up for a defense. Just something to watch.

As for the receivers, I have to be fair to Keim. He never had a chance to take the players you listed as they were much higher than where we picked.

Oh believe me, there were plenty he passed on and he has done a terrible job in the draft imo, but Cooper or Beckham aren’t fair.

As for Antonio Brown, lots of factors are at play, but he was a 6th rounder, so everyone missed on him, much like Brady.

Jordon Mathews, Brandin Cooks, Allen Robinson, Stephan Diggs, Michael Thomas, all were available before we picked and we went a different direction. Now that would be fair.

But again, to be fair, not many thought WR was our weak spot before the year started. Of course, I thought Floyd should be traded, which would have lead to picking up another receiver at some point.

Many things to be Thankful for this year, family, health, job, etc, but also Not being S. Keim this upcoming offseason. So much work to do with this team.

Let me attempt to help: (Cap space will be tight and currently have 22 UFA)

Coaching: Replace ST coach. (have to show the players and fans you care)
I would also watch what the Jets do, if they fire Bowles, I would
him back as possible consultant.

Offense:
QB- Unless Palmer retires, which is highly doubtful, although a few more games like MN and he may think about it. (taking too many hits). He will go into the 2017 season as your starter. His contract is such releasing him is not an option.
Stanton- he is under contract for 2017.
***My first Round Draft pick in 2017 will be: Mason Rudolph QB Ok St. –he would have to declare for the draft, he is only a Junior, would need at least one year to learn under Palmer and Stanton. QB for the future.

WR- Beg Larry Fitz not to retire and hopefully he will be back next year.
JJ Nelson, J. Brown and J. Brown are under contract. I would let Floyd explore Free Agency. If this would occur, use your 3rd round Draft pick on the best available WR or pick up a Vet at low cost like Andre Roberts or A. Benn.

RB: D. Johnson and K. Williams only RB’s under contract for 2017. I would bring back S. Taylor for ST. I would also look to promote E. Penny to active roster for depth and ST. I would not bring back C. Johnson.

OL: Veldeer, Iupati, Humphries, Boehm, Ulrick and Cole under contract for 2017.
****My only Free agent big splash would be to sign Kevin Zeitler RG from the Bengals. I would let Shipley walk, try to bring back Watford as your reserve interior O lineman.

TE: Momah and Valles under contract for 2017. I would release Niklas and bring back both Fells and Gresham if possible.

Defense (now the difficult part)

DL: Peters, Nkemdiche, Gunter, Stinson and X Willaims under contract for 2017. J. Mauro is a RFA, I would extend Josh before the end of this season. C. Campbell is still a force on the DL, but Mr. Keim will have to throw more $ and C. Jones to keep him. CC will be able to test free agency, hopefully the relationship is where he will let AZ try to match an offer he will get. If this would play out where Campbell is not back, then I would see if F. Rucker will resign for 2017.
Probably use a 4th round draft pick on a DL.

LB: As stated before, resign Chandler. Jones. Under contract for 2017-Bucannon, Golden, K. Martin, Fua. I would try to resign Minter, shouldn’t be that costly and see how S. Moore plays the rest of the season.

Safety: Another tough decision. Cards have high amount of $ in the secondary with Peterson and Mathieu. Currently under contract for 2017 is Mathieu, Branch and Bryant. I would try to resign Jefferson over Swearinger.

CB: Under contract for 2017–Peterson, Bethel, Williams. I would resign M. Cooper and Simon for depth/development.

Special Teams: Under contract for 2017, Catanzaro–is RFA, would extend, Brewer. I would find a new Punter.

With Palmer’s age and contract, AZ will still need to be in a win now mentality for 2017. Next year BA will need to have the Off focused around D. Johnson and the improved OL. If they lose C. Campbell this offseason, I would like to see T. Bowles back in some capacity to offset the loss on Defense. Nkemdiche needs to be a factor in 2017.

To take it a step further, He received his 15 million signing bonus and his 10 million option bonus before 2016. So really, he would only have lost 9.5 million being cut, not the whole 15 million.

To restructure takes two sides, so you have to wonder about that. Sometimes you have to come strong to get a deal done. Maybe he would have restructured with a 4 year 36-38 million dollar deal, Deferring more guaranteed money into 2017 and 2018 , lowering his cap number considerabilty.

There is no denying that we could have used the cap space to fill huge holes in this lineup. Remember, our two highest paid players drop off in 2018 (mostly), Maybe 2017 they walk??? so spreading out guaranteed money into the next two years would have been smart.

We also know we need to find a rookie QB, which by doing so, lowers that cap position for 4 years, allowing bigger contracts to go elsewhere. With a Palmer and Fitz departure in 2018, and a rookie QB taking over, we could have 60 million in cap space you could use towards guys Campbell and Jones or for that matter, guys like Alex Mack and Joe Haden. Needs in 2016.

Seems there was many better options than the one chosen. Please tell me why I am wrong?

Not sure what you mean about wondering about two sides. Are you questioning whether Campbell didn’t want it or the Cards? I can’t see how the Cardinals with Campbell will want to pay him an average of 8 or 9 million at this age, especially for four years. That was the point you were already making in a previous post, wasn’t it? So I don’t see how that works. And I don’t think it would’ve behooved them before the season just to cut him loose.

Whoever is in charge of small school scouting should be in charge of the entire Cardinal drafting process. The Cards have done an excellent job of seeking out small school players in the late rounds. However, recently the early rounds from large schools has plagued the Cardinals.

Agree with Scott H. about the churn of the roster. You will not rise to the top with a medley of released players.

Football like other professional sports, the secret to great offenses is creating mismatches. Having John Brown and JJ Nelson has never seemed logical to me. Seems to me the Cards need one of each type of receiver: such as a sure handed receiver, a great route runner, very fast and quick receiver, a muscle receiver, and a tall lanky type receiver.

Another point is how come players “off the street” happened to be better than players drafted or in the Cardinal system since late spring? This tells me, they either had little idea on how to draft linemen and / or the coaches simply cannot prepare linemen beyond mediocre.

JTDG…
I knew somebody would bring up the fact that guys like Cooper and Becham weren’t available, but, the fact that we don’t aggressively go after talents by whatever means necessary is a big part of what has kept us from getting to the next level. When other GMs see a talent they REALLY like, they wheel and deal to get the job done and land those kinds of playmakers whether it means trading in the current draft, combination trades or whatever. We talk the talk but don’t really walk the walk of “getting aggressive in the draft”.
Somebody brought up our scouting department and this is another area that I think needs an overhaul because we’re just not getting the job done as you also pointed out. I personally think former players are the best judges of talent at the college level, guys who know what it takes to make the transition, have the maturity and personal focus and discipline to achieve well thought out goals. They are equipped with the experience to see if talents like Antonio Brown or Stephan Diggs or David Johnsons pass the sniff test and the franchise doesn’t end up having their top draft picks red shirt their first years.
Of course, again, their is a vision the owner/HC/GM have and a type of system they like…our preference for smurfs with speed hasn’t exactly worked out, which we should have learned with Ellington. This is still a tough and physical game, if you want to be a legit contender year after year, and so you need players who can take the physical punishment, play a full sixty (or more) for the entire season. We usually lose our best players by the time other teams are hitting their stride.
LOL…of course Bellichick is kinda a freak of nature and seems to be able to spin straw into gold whatever the hand that he ends up with!

I will say this — whether I agree or not with all the posters (people thinking Keim is the problem, people thinking Arians’ playcalling is the problem, people thinking Palmer is the problem…), it is so great to see fans passionate about the Cardinals.

Remember, it was just a few years ago that we would’ve considered a 4-5-1 start, with three of the losses being by less than one score and thus being in a position to win the majority of the games we played, a marked improvement.

I don’t know what the future holds in store for this team. I think some posters are correct that we could easily see Palmer, Fitz and some others walk, while we don’t really have anyone in the wings. A year ago we were so excited about John Brown that we thought Floyd was expendable. Well, now we’re not so excited about John Brown, but Floyd looks expendable for a different reason — because he is a shadow of what we thought he’d be. JJ Nelson flashed in one game and was being talked up like the new #2, and now he can’t hang onto a ball AND allowed one to bounce off him for an INT. We could very soon be a team with no QB and no receivers. Our offense would be like the Rams… and David Johnson would have about as much success as Todd Gurley when everyone knows they can just stack the box.

That’s the way it looks, at least. It’s easy to paint a dire picture. But at the same time, fortunes can change quickly in the NFL. A QB that surprises, like Prescott in Dallas or like Wilson did in Seattle, allows you to spend money elsewhere for four years and make the rest of the team better. To me, that’s the goal — whether it’s this year or next… find a QB. Everything revolves around that.

I see they decided to bring back Branch instead of CJ! Wow, AS IF we couldn’t use some help on offense! But, the way the decisions have been made this season, I don’t know why I’m surprised, geez, total no brainer! I guess this is Keim trying to cover his ass for the miserable job he’s done with the secondary and the fact that he blew a sizeable chunk of money on a player who’s spent nearly the entire season on the sideline with no guarantees .
We still have some really tough and physical teams on the schedule and everybody knows David is THE running game. Lose him with no backup and that’s it folks…game REALLY over!
Yep, I’m inclined to agree with JTDG, Keim needs to go.

Even a QB in round one, with the way the new structures are, gives you lots of money to spread around.

As for John Brown, I just liken him to PP in 2014 with his illness. If your body isn’t right, its tough to play at a high level. I think he bounces back in 2017. But with Fitz and Floyd leaving the team in 2017/2018 , we have a need for WR even if Nelson steps up.

The biggest disappointment was Jaron Brown. He seemed poised to be that #2 receiver and then got hurt. Hated to see that, because we go into 2017 hoping he can step up, but not knowing.

Looking like the rams? Thats a scary thought. Not saying it isn’t true, but hoping it isn’t.

He was the right hand man of Rod Graves from 2008-2012 as Director of Player Personnel.
Before that, he was the Director of scouting.

Oh, he gave Graves the reports that said Levi Brown was a stud. He was there with the Kolb trade. He was there when in 2011, one of the best drafts ever, the cards came away with only Peterson. I could go on and on.

So, when he took Cooper in 2013, it wasn’t his first goof. His finger prints have been all over these drafts for a long time.

When you say SK should be fired…you do realize he is the only GM with a winning record. Yes 3 winning seasons in a row. Unheard of for us Cardinal fans.

I recall in 2014 as I was sitting in Century Link Field all decked out in my Cardinals gear (1 of about 50 Cards fans at the game) being heckled. We of course were leading the division at 9-1. I shouted back to some Hawks fans, hey I’m proud to be a Cardinal fan and to let me revel in the moment for leading the division as we had at that point only 5 winning seasons since the Cards moved to the desert. Needless to say they stopped heckling me after realizing ya they have have been a terrible franchise since 1988.

Our overall record to this point is 188-269-1. Not exactly sterling. I guess I’m not so quick to throw in the towel on management, players or the franchise after a 4-5-1 start.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never been a GM for a NFL franchise other than in Madden Football. Its easy to criticize from afar when you aren’t right there in the drivers seat. I’m pretty sure there is a lot more behind the scenes action than we know.

I’m forever the optimist hoping we can win out and sneak into playoffs…Stranger things have happened in the football world. Gotta have some faith!